Spring is in full swing! Time to get serious about socialising and merrymaking. That’s why April’s Punch of the Month is the oh so serious Vodka Thyme Lemonade by chef and restauranteur Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichte. Fragrant and spring-like, it’s the perfect cocktail to serve at your inaugural garden party of the season. Discerning palates may wish to skip the sugar-rimmed glass.

Run 1 lemon wedge over the rim of a 12 oz highball glass; dip the rim into sugar. Reserve the lemon wedge. Put the remaining 2 lemon wedges in a cocktail shaker. Muddle hard, breaking the lemon skins to release their natural oil. Add Syrup, Vodka and Ice. Cover and shake.

Pour the mixture into the sugar-rimmed highball glass, lemon wedges and all. Top off with club soda, and squeeze the reserved lemon wedge into the mix before dropping it into the glass. Garnish with a thyme sprig and serve immediately.

In a small saucepan, boil 1 cup of water and add the sugar, stirring until dissolved. Add the thyme, remove from the heat, and let stand until cool. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing to extract as much liquid as possible. Cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days.

Before parading and drinking, St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland begins with a Church mass to honour the national patron saint. The tradition of wearing green is relatively recent, and is purported to help the wearer avoid being seen by leprechauns, who have a nasty habit of pinching.

St. Patrick’s Day is renowned for raucous and rowdy celebrations all around the globe, making it one of our favourite national holidays here at Bane + Antidote… parades and all night drinking are never a bad thing. Chicago once went as far as dying thier river green. But for a celebration so marked by the voracity of its jubilant troops there is a marked absence of tasteful celebratory consumption on offer. Green beer, green bagels and crème-de-menthe cocktails are the norm. That is why we are bringing you this sophisticated gem of a cocktail.

Applaud your good-taste and coopted Irish heritage this March by adding The Emerald to your repertoire. This mature and spirit-forward cocktail by David Wondrich for Esquire deserves to take its place as the rightful Irish cousin of the Manhattan.

Recipe:

2 ounces Irish whiskey

1 ounce Italian vermouth

1 dash orange bitters

Stir well with cracked ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

You’re going to need to stock up on hangover cures this month friends.

After a brief hiatus in the Punch of the Month column, in keeping with “dry January”, we are determined to return this February with a cocktail positively worthy of your time. Needless to say, the process of guaranteeing that our offering be truly top notch required a fair amount of experimenting and tasting, making the tail-end of our January not so dry after all. Oops…

We are all familiar with Venus as the Goddess of Love but she might be more accurately described in today’s terms as the goddess of multi-tasking, as she is also attributed with sex, beauty, fertility, prosperity, desire and victory – a whole lot of responsibility for one lady deity. In this day and age of wanting to be, do and have it all, it is quite befitting that we guzzle a namesake tipple which hits so many notes.

A quick refresher in nutritional therapy: chocolate contains serotonin, phenylethylamine and theobromine – three compounds that lower blood pressure, enhance circulation, amplify general feelings of well being and provide energy. The perfect foundation for a long night of fun.

Chilli contains capsaicin, a substance that physically turns up the heat. Its effects are felt far beyond the burning in your mouth. Raised body temperature brings a flush to your cheek and a swell to your lips making them ever so much more plump for the kissing. Chilli peppers are also known to heighten nerve sensitivity adding an extra frisson to amorous pleasure. WARNING: Remember to wash your hands well after handling chillies, you do not want to be responsible for any undesired burning.

Mint is a lesser-known and more subtle aphrodisiac. It leaves those who eat it with a calm body and mind, while stimulating a lusty appetite. Such are its hidden charms, Aristotle famously advised Alexander the Great to keep his warriors from eating mint when at war.

These three strong natural aphrodisiacs: chocolate, chilli and mint, plus booze (arguably the fourth) ensure that this cocktail packs a mighty punch. The I’m Your Venus will make for a potent tool in your V-Day arsenal.

Alcohol-free dinner parties needn’t be boring, as proved by these titillating teetotal recipes for mocktails so healthy they’re practically mind-altering.

Dry January, Octsober, pregnancy, recovery, Lent. There are moments in all of our lives when abstention becomes the name of the game. You may have honed your ‘Oh, you brought me 0% beer’ face down to a T, but stoicism is so last century my friend. Who says teetotallers can’t get their kicks too? Below are Bane + Antidote’s favourite craft recipes for mocktails that pack a punch. These exquisite artisanal concoctions, loaded with health benefits, would make for an impressive alcohol free dinner party, or a thoughtful yet self-interested gift for any host.

The Awake Potion contains electrolytes, green tea, guarana, ginseng, B vitamins and vitamin C. It acts as a pick-me-up and an immunity booster and would be the perfect way to greet your guests on arrival.

The Asleep Potion contains honey, 5-HTP and electrolytes. It acts as a sleep aid and a detoxifier. It would be the perfect party favour to send your guests home with at the end of the evening.

Prepare a vat of this before you lunge at your New Year’s celebrations. Reheat and consume upon returning. We promise you won’t regret it.

This soothing vegan bed-time drink contains nearly everything your body needs to help it recover from an evening’s over-indulgence. If accompanied by a Faust’s Asleep Potion natural hangover cure, you’ll rocket out of bed in the morning.

Honey and cinnamon help rebalance blood sugar levels, and speed the elimination of toxins from the liver post celebratory imbibing. Ginger will help ease nausea, boost circulation and replenish energy levels while you sleep. Turmeric has powerful healing properties – in addition to boosting liver function the root is known to ease respiratory ailments thereby helping to combat winter coughs and colds. Cloves ease a troubled digestive tract, and have strong analgesic properties that will soothe a pounding head.

However, to really destroy the hangover gremlins and begin 2015 with a clear head this Vegan Turmeric Milk should be accompanied by a Faust’s Asleep Potion. This natural hangover cure contains hearty doses of 5-HTP (to combat the depressive and sleep disrupting effects of alcohol consumption), N-Acetyl Cysteine (a powerful antioxidant that neutralises Acetaldehyde, the toxic byproduct of alcohol breakdown), and electrolytes (to aid rehydration). This natural remedy works best when followed by an Awake Potion the morning after.

It’s New Year’s Eve! ‘GO FOR IT’ we say! Just remember that the true party animal looks after their secretly mortal vessel… It’s the clandestine trick to becoming the life-and-soul.

New Year’s Eve Vegan Turmeric Hangover Curing Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup organic almond milk

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp freshly grated ginger

2 cinnamon sticks

4 cloves

1 tsp organic local honey

Recipe:

Place the ingredients in a saucepan and bring up to a simmering temperature. Do not allow to boil. Simmer for 10 minutes, and then strain out the solids. The ginger absorbs some of the liquid so be generous with your almond milk. Consume immediately, or allow to cool before storing in a fridge. This mixture will keep for at least a week, so you can make a litre or more of it in advance and enjoy this delicious detoxifying treat every evening with ease.

The year is drawing to a close… which means you have three sleeps to continue relishing the joys of excess before that ghastly New Year conscience kicks in and it’s all, ‘I’ll have a mung bean and alfalfa sprout smoothie please’. What better time to reflect upon your favourite mixology trend of the year gone by?

For us at Bane + Antidote 2014 was all about herb infused cocktails, as they represent the epitome of intelligent imbibing. Not only do these delightful concoctions provide a long overdue alternative to the banality of ‘variations-on-sweet’, many contain a hearty dose of medicinal properties, and represent a world of creative hosting opportunities to boot.

While every great dinner party begins with a cocktail, only an exquisite dinner party begins with a cocktail designed with the health needs of the guests in mind, or interjects with half-time cocktails that reflect and enliven the dishes being served. Below are our favourite herb infused cocktail recipes, with information on the properties and flavours of each. Enjoy! You have three days. GO!

Chamomile

Properties: Chamomile is used as a sleep aid, to calm the nerves, speed digestion, and to treat anxiety, fevers, colds, and stomach ailments. It also has anti-inflammatory properties.

Halloween has always been my favourite celebration of the year, but even I can’t stand the sickly sweet rendition of All Hallows Night that our neighbours across the pond have infected us with. It almost seems as though if you do not have a child and you’re not ruled by high fructose corn syrup then Halloween is not for you. I beg to differ. All Soul’s Night is a time to gather together, look death in the eye and raise a glass to all things dark and decrepit with brazen joviality. Below are my favourite recipes for an unnervingly stylish Halloween dinner party.